Administratively Terminated Award
NSF Org:	DRL Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL)
Recipient:	FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
Initial Amendment Date:	August 12, 2022
Latest Amendment Date:	May 16, 2025
Award Number:	2215138
Award Instrument:	Standard Grant
Program Manager:	Julie Johnson jjohnson@nsf.gov  (703)292-8624 DRL  Division of Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings (DRL) EDU  Directorate for STEM Education
Start Date:	August 15, 2022
End Date:	April 25, 2025 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount:	$1,902,274.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date:	$1,902,274.00
Funds Obligated to Date:	FY 2022 = $1,902,274.00
History of Investigator:	Roxanne Hughes (Principal Investigator) hughes@magnet.fsu.edu Karen Peterson (Co-Principal Investigator) Abi Olukeye (Co-Principal Investigator) Qian Zhang (Co-Principal Investigator) Kata Lucas (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office:	Florida State University 874 TRADITIONS WAY TALLAHASSEE FL  US  32306-0001 (850)644-5260
Sponsor Congressional District:	02
Primary Place of Performance:	Florida State University 1114 W. Call Street TALLAHASSEE FL  US  32306-4459
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District:	02
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI):	JF2BLNN4PJC3
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s):	AISL
Primary Program Source:	04002223DB NSF Education & Human Resource
Program Reference Code(s):	8212
Program Element Code(s):	725900
Award Agency Code:	4900
Fund Agency Code:	4900
Assistance Listing Number(s):	47.076

ABSTRACT

Despite decades of policies and programs meant to increase the representation of girls and women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), girls and women of color still represent a much smaller percent of the STEM workforce than they do in the US population. This lack of representation is preventing the US STEM workforce from reaching its true potential. Intersecting inequalities of gender, race, ethnicity, and class, along with stereotypes associated with who is successful in STEM (i.e., White men), lead to perceptions that they do not belong and may not succeed in STEM. Ultimately, these issues hinder girls? STEM identity development (i.e., sense of belonging and future success), lead to a crisis of representation for women of color and have compounding impacts on the STEM workforce. Research suggests there are positive impacts of in-person STEM learning after-school and out-of-school time programs on girls? sense of belonging. The increasing need for online learning initiated by the COVID-19 pandemic means it is vital to investigate girls? STEM identity development within an online community. Thus, the project will refine and test approaches in online learning communities to make a valuable impact on the STEM identity development of girls of color by 1) training educators and role models on exemplary approaches for STEM identity development; 2) implementing a collaborative, girl-focused Brite Online Learning Community that brings together 400 girls ages 13-16 from a minimum of 10 sites across the United States; and 3) researching the impact of the three core approaches -- community building, authentic and competence-demonstrating hands-on activities, and interactive learning with women role models -- on participating girls? STEM identities in online settings.

The mixed methods study is guided by guided by Carlone & Johnson?s model of STEM identity involving four constructs: competence, performance, recognition, and sense of belonging. Data collection sources for the quantitative portion of the project include pre- and post-surveys, while qualitative data sources will be collected from six case study sites and will include observations, focus group interviews with girls, artifacts created by girls and educators, educator interviews, and open-ended survey responses. This approach will enable the research team to determine how and the extent to which the Brite Online Learning Community influences STEM identity constructs, interpreting which practices lead to meaningful outcomes that can be linked to the development of STEM identity for participating girls in an online environment. The products of this work will include research-based, tested Brite Practices and a toolkit for fostering girls? interest, identification, and long-term participation in STEM. The resulting products will increase the reach of informal STEM education programming to girls of color across the nation as online spaces can reach more girls, potentially increasing the representation of women of color in the STEM workforce. This project is funded by the Advancing Informal STEM Learning (AISL) program which seeks to advance new approaches to, and evidence-based understanding of, the design and development of STEM learning in informal environments.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

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